Ethics of humanized mice
The recent stories “Human cells rev up mouse brains” (SN: 4/6/13, p. 16) and “Of mice and man” (SN: 3/23/13, p. 22) drove home to me that human-animal hybrids are now reality. In science fiction stories with such hybrids, a big part of the plot is the resultant ethical gray area: There are certain standards for animal research, and much stricter standards for human research. What standards apply to animals that have a significant payload of human cells? Brain resea...